Cragside

I have a few complaints about living in the country - the lack of non-tourist industry jobs for one, and the biggest at the moment: lack of public transport coupled with rising fuel costs and large distances between the places you need to go. For example, if I worked in the nearest city, my fuel costs alone would be over £120 per week! But there are also plenty of advantages to living in a rural location. Schools tend to be a little better, with smaller class sizes; and the scenery! Everywhere we go is breathtakingly beautiful and it's fantastic to live in an area that has so much history.



Cragside house and gardens is a National Trust site near to where we live and is the first house in the world to be powered by hydroelectricity. Home of Lord Armstrong in the 1860s and beyond, the house had hot and cold running water, central heating (through steam passages and air ducts), fire alarms, telephones, a Turkish bath suite and a hydraulic passenger lift - all considered revolutionary at the time.



The house is set in 4 km² of gardens and forest, which are beyond beautiful. Theo loves being out in the forest, collecting pinecones and I really like the serenity and calmness that being in nature provides. I also can't deny that most of my enjoyment comes from knowing that Theo is going to be exhausted when he gets home (since he usually cannot sit still for more than a minute at a time)!